With no safe shelter left and no land to return to, many families in Gaza are now pitching tents inside graveyards [Screen grab/Al Jazeera]
“This graveyard wasn’t meant for the living,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from the southern city of Khan Younis. “But today, it’s home to dozens of families who have nowhere else to go.”Khoudary said Palestinians were camping at the site “not because they want to, but because it’s the last free space available”.“Graveyards have become shelters not out of choice, but out of desperation,” she added. Rami Musleh, a father of 12 who was displaced from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoon, could not find any viable option other than the graveyard.
“For parents, the emotional toll is heavy. The psychological trauma of war is made worse by having to raise children among tombstones,” Musleh told Al Jazeera.
Another resident, Sabah Muhammed, said the cemeteries have now lost all their sacredness.“Graveyards, once sacred spaces for the dead, are now silent witnesses to a living crisis. No water, no electricity, and no privacy … only the bare minimum to survive,” she told Al Jazeera.“In Gaza, even the land for the dead is now the only refuge for the living.”
According to the United Nations, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 percent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more.Palestinians in southern Gaza are squeezed into overcrowded shelters as Israel issued forced orders for residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to evacuate and then bombarded many as they fled south.The price of renting even a square metre of land to pitch a tent is prohibitive for many displaced Palestinians, who lack a stable income and are dependent on scarce humanitarian assistance.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, said 61 million tonnes of debris now cover Gaza and entire neighbourhoods have been erased. It said families were searching the ruins for shelter and water.While a fragile ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, Israel is continuing to heavily restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza. The International Court of Justice on Wednesday ruled Israel must allow aid into Gaza, stating it cannot use starvation “as a method of warfare”. Aid is mainly being channelled into the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, while none of the crossings in the north have been opened.
Boiler Blast in Ludhiana — Reasons and Background
Ludhiana, one of Punjab’s most industrialized cities, has witnessed several tragic boiler and furnace explosions over the years. These incidents have repeatedly exposed deep flaws in the city’s industrial safety system. The most common reason identified in many of these cases is overheating and unchecked temperature rise. In several dyeing and steel units, boilers were found operating without proper temperature and pressure monitoring. Workers, often untrained, turned on the boiler and left it unattended for long hours, allowing pressure and heat to build up to dangerous levels. When the internal pressure exceeded the boiler’s safety limit, it resulted in a sudden and deadly explosion.
Another major reason is the use of unskilled labour and lack of trained supervision. Many factories in Ludhiana employ workers who are not technically qualified to handle heavy industrial boilers. Reports have pointed out that most operators are daily-wage labourers who have little understanding of boiler safety mechanisms, pressure gauges, or temperature control systems. Due to this, even small operational errors go unnoticed until they turn into disasters. In many cases, the required safety training and certifications were never provided, leaving workers to operate complex machinery purely through experience or guesswork.
Equally concerning is the poor regulatory compliance and failure to follow the Indian Boiler Regulations (IBR). Several investigations revealed that some factories had installed boilers illegally, without obtaining the necessary clearance from the Punjab Pollution Control Board or local safety departments. Periodic inspections, risk assessments, and standard operating procedures were either ignored or completely missing. The enforcement of safety laws is also weak, allowing many small and medium-scale industries to continue operations without proper safety audits. This lack of official oversight has made Ludhiana’s industrial belt particularly vulnerable to accidents.
Ludhiana’s industrial pressure and overloaded systems further add to the problem. Being a hub of dyeing, textile, and steel manufacturing, the city’s factories operate around the clock to meet tight production deadlines. During peak production seasons, boilers are pushed beyond their safe operational limits, and maintenance is often postponed to avoid downtime. Factory owners admit that in the rush to meet market demands, operators are told to “work cautiously” but are left unsupervised, which in reality means safety often takes a back seat. This culture of neglect, combined with high workloads, creates a perfect storm for catastrophic failures.
A significant factor in many boiler blasts is poor maintenance and outdated equipment. Several units continue to use old boilers or locally assembled systems that lack modern safety valves or automatic cutoff mechanisms. Regular inspections are either delayed or done superficially. When combined with the city’s inadequate emergency response system — outdated fire tenders, understaffed fire departments, and weak coordination — the consequences of such explosions become even more devastating. Instead of being contained quickly, these accidents often result in extensive property damage and loss of lives.
In some incidents, specific operational errors or chemical triggers were directly responsible. For instance, in an adhesive manufacturing unit, a worker accidentally poured a flammable chemical into a heated boiler, causing an instant blast. In other cases, pressure buildup due to blocked safety valves or defective gauges led to mechanical failure. These immediate triggers highlight how fragile the safety ecosystem has become when human error, mechanical malfunction, and chemical reactions intersect in unsafe environments.
In summary, the repeated boiler blasts in Ludhiana are not the result of a single mistake but a combination of technical negligence, weak enforcement, lack of training, and industrial overdrive. The city’s rapid industrial growth has outpaced its safety infrastructure. Without strict adherence to boiler regulations, skilled manpower, and periodic safety inspections, such tragic explosions will likely continue to occur. The Ludhiana incidents serve as a grim reminder that industrial progress must never come at the cost of human lives and safety.
NAPA Expresses Deep Concern Over Boiler Blast in Ludhiana — Calls for Strict Industrial Safety Enforcement in Punjab
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) has expressed deep sorrow and grave concern over the tragic boiler blast incident that recently took place in Ludhiana, Punjab. In a strongly worded statement, NAPA Executive Director Satnam Singh Chahal said that the recurring industrial accidents in Punjab, especially in Ludhiana, reflect a serious lapse in safety culture, regulatory enforcement, and industrial accountability. He added that this unfortunate tragedy once again exposes the grim reality of how industrial progress in Punjab continues to come at the cost of human life and worker safety.
Chahal stated that preliminary reports from local authorities and media sources point to a combination of technical negligence, overheating, and lack of skilled supervision as the main reasons behind the explosion. In many such cases, boilers are allowed to operate for long hours without proper temperature and pressure monitoring, and untrained workers are left to handle complex machinery without necessary certifications. “These incidents are not acts of fate,” Chahal remarked, “they are the result of human negligence and weak governance structures that have failed to protect innocent labourers working in unsafe environments.”
NAPA’s analysis also highlights that poor maintenance and outdated industrial equipment remain common across Ludhiana’s small and medium-scale factories. Many boilers in dyeing, textile, and steel units are operating without regular inspections or updated safety systems. The absence of functional safety valves, the illegal installation of machinery, and the lack of automatic cut-off controls make these industrial units ticking time bombs. Chahal emphasized that such negligence is not only a violation of the Indian Boiler Regulations (IBR) but also a moral failure of the system meant to safeguard lives.
Referring to the broader industrial context, Chahal noted that Ludhiana’s factories are under intense production pressure, often pushing their equipment beyond safe limits. He said, “In the race to meet production deadlines and market demands, factory managements are compromising on safety checks and ignoring the basic principles of risk prevention. Human life cannot be treated as collateral damage for industrial profits.” He further pointed out that enforcement agencies in Punjab must act with urgency, ensuring that every industrial unit undergoes mandatory safety audits, risk assessments, and operator training programs.
NAPA has urged the Punjab Government to take strict action against those responsible for this latest boiler blast and to implement comprehensive safety reforms across all industrial zones. The organization also called for the creation of a Special Industrial Safety Task Force to inspect high-risk units regularly and to introduce tougher penalties for factories found violating safety norms. “Repeated tragedies like this should serve as a wake-up call for all stakeholders,” Chahal said. “Every worker’s life matters, and it is the responsibility of the government and factory owners to ensure that no family loses a loved one due to preventable negligence.”
In conclusion, NAPA reiterated its commitment to standing with the families of victims and supporting measures that improve workplace safety in Punjab’s industrial sector. Satnam Singh Chahal said, “Industrial growth must never come at the cost of human lives. The government must enforce stronger laws, the industry must adopt stricter discipline, and the public must demand accountability. Only then can we prevent Ludhiana and other cities from becoming graveyards of preventable industrial disasters.”